~Andrea~

It's not always at the end of a page when it's in a post. Sometimes it's just in the post:

No I haven't. I would like to though, as I very much enjoyed reading this one, apart from the ending of course. (I just found it a let down after being so thoroughly hooked.) Thank you I'll check out the Cicero trilogy. I've heard good things about his Roman historical novels!

Thanks Hayley. I was on desktop PC. EDIT: I'm still seeing it occasionally. I'll see an ad at the bottom of a page, and the same ad will appear in the middle of a post in that thread, on PC. It's not a huge issue for me though, just slightly annoying. It would be worse on mobile I suppose but I don't browse the forum on my phone.

I saw an ad in the middle of a thread post just now.

Conclave by Robert Harris The Pope is dead, which means a new pope must be elected quickly and in absolute secrecy. Over a hundred cardinals from around the world must spend 72 hours confined to vatican city amidst the ambition and rivalry of the frontrunners. I really enjoyed reading this. I didn't expect to. I didn't really know what to expect and actually as I started reading it, for at least 50 pages or so, I thought I wouldn't like it at all. I expected it to be dull and found it a slow start. However as the story unfolded I became thoroughly absorbed. The details of the world were very well researched and fascinating and as I got to know the characters and the factions, each round of voting became nail-biting. As I raced towards the end I thought this was going to be a real favourite of the year. Sadly I hated the ending and it ruined the book for me. So while I wanted to love this book, and almost did, I was ultimately disappointed.

I've been meaning to re-read those two A Mole books at some point too, and then move on to the later ones. I just hope the later ones don't disappoint as I loved the teenage diaries!

Definitely the Farseer trilogy Hayley. It's the first chronologically of 4 trilogies (plus other books) all set in the same world. The first book is Assassin's Apprentice. I hope you get to read it (and love it!)

Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb Nevare Burvelle is the second son of a Gernian noble and as such is destined for life in the military. His father, himself a second son and a soldier, promoted to noble status by the king, is concerned that Nevare doesn't have what it takes. He sends him off for survival training with a warrior of the Kidona tribe, a traditional enemy of the civilised Gernians and regarded as savages by them. His father hadn't bargained on the strange tribal magic Nevare would encounter there that leave his son changed and conflicted about where his loyalties truly lie. When Nevare eventually goes to military academy, he has to battle not only the prejudices and hostility of the old aristocracy who don't take kindly to the new nobles, but also the tribal magic within as it vies for dominance in the young soldier. I'd heard that this was a slow trilogy so I was expecting to struggle with this, however I found it an easy and engaging read with plenty of action to keep me interested. It's set in an entirely different world to Hobb's other trilogies which all have overlapping places, characters and themes. It's perhaps not as good as some of her other stuff, but I still enjoyed reading it. Then again I am a bit of a die hard fan so maybe it's just me!

Well hello again everyone! I'm so glad I can come back to this thread! Some reviews of what I've read in the interim will follow!

This is fantastic!Thanks Hayley, Michelle and Gaia. I look forward to getting stuck in again!

Bye Raven. And goodbye to anyone else not joining FB or GR. It's been a pleasure!

I'll be gettiing my content this weekend too. Get well soon Sari

Yes please I'll help. Err not sure actually. I'll check later and join if not. EDIT: I've joined!!

Thanks Michelle. I'd be happy to give it a go if people want to use that group.

I've just been right clicking the web pages and choosing "Save Page As". It then very slowly saves the webpage and a folder for all the images etc. You can view them offline in a web browser. Obviously once the site goes down any internal (BCF) links on those pages won't work.

You sum it up well! I'm not a huge lover of FB even though I use it quite a bit. I'll probably dip in and out of the group but like you I find it a bit busy.

I wasn't even aware there was one! Do you have a link / name for it? EDIT: Don't worry - I have it now (from the forum closure discussions thread).

I'm thinking Goodreads might suit me quite well actually. It's like a kind of bookish facebook from what I can see so far. Also my main activity on this site was in the book blogs section (which doesn't seem to be a feature of any of the other book forums), so instead of a blog I'm going to have a goodreads shelf for each year so I can log what I've read. Then you can add a note to each book which will be my review. (People can comment on that I believe). It won't be the same as having a blog here but I'm hoping it will be ok. There are quite a lot of people from here there too. EDIT: Apparently there is a BCF group on there but I can't find it. If anyone knows its name (or has a link) I'd be grateful!

That's what I was intending to do, just for all my reading blogs over the years, which are all thankfully quite short. (Finally there's an advantage to being a slow reader!) I've made a tiny start but it's a bit laborious.

Thanks Pixie! I haven't read it properly yet but it looks good. I need to make time first

What's the forum? Maybe a few of us from here could join it, and give it a bit of a numbers boost? I've also just joined the LT group! (I'm on the FB one as well).

That's interesting. I have Hidden recorded. I've watched about one and a half episodes but never seem to find myself going back to it. Maybe I should give up on it. And picninc at hanging rock is another one I'm not sure about. Again I've watched one and a half episodes, but it's not really doing it for me. It seems a lot of episodes for a story I did enjoy Keeping Faith recently. Another welsh one - about a missing husband. They're repeating it right now I think. I thought Eve Myles was brilliant in it, and while it's a missing person thriller, it wasn't dreary or depressing at all because her character was so interesting.

Ooh, now A Book of Silence sounds interesting. I think I'd be quite tempted by that, or something similar, but it's probably be one of those books you'd have to be in the mood for. I do love silence. (Or maybe I just hate noise!)

Oh yes please Pixie.Thank you! Though I dread to think what I'd find out about how I spend my time . Doing not very much I expect - especially in this heat. It's making me very lazy!

Pasta! I've been eating tonnes of it in this weather, with mediterranean type sauces. I've also been munching on crisps, tortilla chips, and some mexican food. I've had quite a few BBQs so lots of burgers. And lots of salad!